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Monday, September 8, 2014

Vatican City, 6 September 2014 (VIS) –
Today Pope Francis received the prelates of the National Episcopal
Conference of Cameroon at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina”
visit. At the end of the audience the Pope expressed his
encouragement and confidence in the bishops, whose visit to Rome
underlined the spirit of communion with the Apostolic See, and handed
them his written discourse, in which he writes that “for the Gospel
to profoundly touch and convert hearts, we must remember that only
our unity and love make it possible to bear witness authentically and
effectively”. “You must keep unity and diversity closely linked
in order to accommodate the human and spiritual wealth of your
dioceses, that is expressed in many ways”.

Pope Francis mentioned the good
collaboration between the Church, the State and society in Cameroon,
as shown recently by the signing of a framework agreement between the
Holy See and the Republic of Cameroon, and invited the prelates to
put this agreement in practice, “so that legal recognition of many
ecclesial institutions will enable them to exercise greater
influence, to the benefit not only of the Church but also of the
whole of society in Cameroon”. In this context, he also referred to
the considerable commitment on the part of the local churches in
social work, especially in the fields of education, health and
charity, that is recognised and appreciated by the civil authorities
and must be the fulcrum of “a fruitful collaboration between the
State and the Church, with full respect for her freedom. Commitment
to social work is an integral part of evangelisation, as there is an
intimate link between evangelisation and human development, which
must be expressed and developed in all evangelising work”.

The action of evangelisation will be
more effective when the Gospel “is truly lived by those who have
received and profess it. This is how we find the way of drawing to
Christ those who do not yet know Him, demonstrating the power of His
love that is able to transform and illuminate human life”. Given
the significant presence of Muslims in some dioceses, the Pope
encouraged the bishops to “develop a dialogue of life with them, in
the spirit of mutual trust”, which is now “essential to maintain
a climate of peaceful co-existence and to discourage the development
of the violence that Christians are victims of in certain regions of
the African continent”.

He continues, “Families, equally,
must continue to be the focus of your particular care, especially
today as they experience grave hardships – poverty, the
displacement of peoples, lack of security, the temptation to return
to ancestral practices incompatible with the Christian faith, or even
new lifestyles promised by a secularised world”.

It is also essential that the clergy
“offer witness to a life inhabited by the Lord, coherent with the
demands and the principles of the Gospel”, he writes, inviting the
prelates to be fathers attentive to their priests, so that they are
helped to avoid the temptations of power, honours and money. “In
relation to this latter point, the negative example that may be given
by poor management of goods, personal enrichment or wastefulness will
be particularly scandalous in a region where many people lack basic
necessities”. Similarly, “the unity of the clergy is an
indispensable element in the witness to the risen Christ … and
which depends upon unity among bishops, who are often faced with the
same challenges and called upon to offer common and joint solutions,
as well as the unity of the 'presbyterium' that the Lord calls on us
to build every day, setting aside all forms of prejudice, especially
on the basis of ethnicity”.

The Pontiff finally offers
encouragement to consecrated persons, whose life is “always a
prophetic witness and model in matters of reconciliation, justice and
peace” and concludes by urging the prelates of Cameroon not to fear
difficulties and to continue to proclaim the Good News with a renewed
missionary spirit “to all those who still await it or are most in
need”.